Digital cameras have in recent years become widespread. For example, digital cameras are produced as a dedicated apparatus or are incorporated in other apparatuses (e.g., a smartphone). Images generated through an image sensor, image processing circuit, and the like of a digital camera are typically stored as digital data and are displayed on a monitor.
A typical digital camera has functions of automatically performing exposure adjustment, color balance adjustment depending on the type of a light source, and the like, during shooting. Also, many digital cameras have a plurality of shooting modes corresponding to the types of subjects or the purposes of shooting, such as a person, flower, landscape, or night scene. Also, after a desired shooting mode has been selected during shooting, conditions for shooting, such as shutter speed, f-number, light source type, and the like, are automatically set suitable for the type of a subject or the purpose of shooting. Moreover, provided is a function of changing the tone of an image by an effect, depending on the preference of the user of the digital camera.
Patent Literature 1 describes a technique for use in the digital camera having the above functions that displays a live preview image (or a through image) on a monitor while displaying sample images obtained by changing the tone of an image captured at some time point as thumbnails on the monitor. This technique allows the user of the digital camera to select a thumbnail having the desired image tone while viewing the live preview image, and cause the digital camera to set shooting conditions.